Mahama had resources and should have done better - Gabby Asare Otchere Darko

A former executive Director of Danquah Institute and a prominent member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere Darko, says ex-President John Mahama had all the blessings and opportunities to have transformed the economy of the country, but wasted them.

Speaking on Good Evening Ghana Show on Metro TV recently, the communication strategist and corporate lawyer said Mahama and his government hugely benefitted from the energy crisis they themselves created.

“Mahama government acted like merchants of war. He and his team benefited from the Dum-so crisis by creating a new crisis for Ghana”. He was the most blessed president ever in this country’s history. By the time he took over, we were just a year or so as an oil producer, cocoa prices were good, Ghana had really not much of a debt… but what did he do, he wasted the opportunity.”

He pointed out that the current government had to pay arrears that dated back to the former regime in many sectors of the economy, even though there was enough money in the system at the time to handle all of them.

“Just the last couple of years, this government had to pay Ghana Education Service arrears dating back to 2010. Even for the north, scholarships for secondary school education had not been paid from 2014, this government had to pay that… arrears in the energy sector; arrears in the road sector amounting to GH¢2 billion, so what did they actually use the money for. And they borrowed more than any other government in the history of this country,” he stated.

Gabby alleged that before the 2016 general elections, the Mahama government piled pressure on the Bank of Ghana to award an interoperability deal which was 30 times more than the next expensive bidder to Roland Agambire’s Sibton Company.

The new BoG has thus, reduced the interoperability deal that the Mahama BoG was doing from over GH¢60 billion to $4 million. Ghanaians need to ask John Mahama why he should be brought back to repeat his mess,” he said.

He said visionary leaders plan and pay for the future. He said ex-president Mahama gave away billions of contracts when he had no idea how they would be paid after they had being executed. “As I speak, this country pays US$80 million a month for energy we don’t use and the NPP government is working to stop that,” he stated.

Gabby Otchere-Darko believes former President Mahama does not have any message for the 2020 election, as research shows his chances are not rising. “When you look at all the research, it tells you that the main opposition candidate is not rising, but clearly, it appears that there is something about his record which I’m not too sure, so I really wonder what his message will be.”

Reacting to allegations that he and his law firm, Africa Legal Services, were in charge of all government contracts, he said: “I do not do government contracts. I only represent private clients as a lawyer. My law firm, as a policy, does not represent any government Ministry, Department or Agency.

Touching on the emerging issues from the country’s banking sector, Mr. Otchere Darko said the NPP did not collapse a single bank. According to him, the owners and managers of those banks rather abused depositors’ monies and trust.

“NPP rather saved indigenous banking by consolidating banks that were to collapse now into CBG and GCB to make them stronger,” he said.

He said Akufo-Addo has cleared the mess freight forwarded by John Mahama and his government amounting to billions of dollars. He said Tier 2 Pensions funds, which were in arrears, have been paid; NHIS funds, road debts, energy debts, nurses and teachers allowances which were in arrears have been paid.